With the increasing complexity of electrical wiring systems in a myriad of applications, especially airplanes and in the aerospace field, existing wiring harness making technology is advancing. The instant inventor, for example, has developed a computerized system for entraining the various types of wires used in a wiring harness around the pins of the wiring board substantially without human imput. This is not the only system for automatically threading the wires of a harness that has been developed, or is currently being developed. Because of the enormous complexity of these harnesses and their component harnesses, the expense of their creation is forcing manufacturers, and government purchasers of the manufactured equipment, to search for cheaper ways of creating the harnesses. Harness creation is an ideal area for the development of computer application, utilizing robot equipment which can be computer driven to any pre-set combination of locations, so that harnesses can be made by the computer directed robot, with the program being changeable at will for the creation of a different harness.
Such a system is particularly ideal for applications in which only a limited number of harnesses of any one type may be required, such as in the aircraft industry. The flexibility inherent in computer-operated harness making equipment is obvious.
However, whereas the computer data necessary to drive such a machine would be a simple matter, the mechanical interfacing required for the precise engagement and threading of numerous wires of different sizes and strengths, with different terminals, is naturally expensive and is in the developmental stage.
The other part of the harness making operation is the formboard on which these machines, or manual operators, actually create the harnesses. Currently, it is common practice for the manufacturer to have a permanent pegboard with the pegs at the appropriate positions with information indicating what types of wires are required and what type of terminals are needed. These boards are bulky when the enormous number that are needed in many manufacturing operations is considered. There is a storage problem, a problem of loss, breakage, and wear on the board surface. As a natural companion to the programmable wire threading machines used to create the actual harness, there is a need for a universal formboard which can be adapted to form any harness.